


Were We Here Before?

by TheDemonKing



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Slow Burn, ghost is a gremlin, i plan on fluff, starts at the start of the game, will add more tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:27:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23719696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDemonKing/pseuds/TheDemonKing
Summary: Ghost is a curious gremlin who can and will save everyone...It starts off sticking to cannon quite closely but i plan on changing a bunch of stuff!(also this is my first ever fic or writing of any type, please be nice)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	1. Kings Pass.

Ghost had woken up in strange places before, so much so that calling them strange seemed somewhat pointless. They stood up and brushed themself off deciding to look around, it was not the worst place they'd seen, a bit cold and bland but still far nicer that the wastes they were so used to. Seeing a door (an uncommon thing to see) they ran up to it quickly breaking it down with their nail resulting in a well made corridor and another door, this made Ghost rather excited as they ran over and broke down the next two doors.

After the three doors where broken they see a small creature, it is rather cute and small, walking back and forth, occasionally walking into the wall and turning around. It has small spikes on its back so Ghost doesn't touch it (even though they really want to) as that looked like it would hurt.

Continuing down the hall seeing some more of the creatures, some glowy things and dodging a very fast falling spike, Ghost sees a large blank tablet, touching the surface it glows with soul revealing text in a language that Ghost had never seen before. Ghost surprising even themselves can read the text anyway, it reads:

"Higher beings, these words are for you and you alone.  
Your great strength marks you amongst us. Focus your soul and you shall achieve feats of which other may only dream."

Ghost knew of soul, it was a glowy substance that comes from alive things, they can use it too heal which was very useful. Although the text was a strange thing to see, Ghost did not have enough of an attention span to think about it any longer so they continue onwards to the next chamber. Coming across yet another creature (this one being much less cute) they decide to kill it. It drops some.. shiny rocks? Ghost being Ghost, picks up all of said shiny rocks and stashes them away into their pockets.

They keep moving upwards killing another flying thing and very closely avoiding more falling spikes, they see another cute bug and jump over it (not even noticing the blue glowing cocoon). Ghost breaks through another door seeing a large door and another tablet just along the corridor, they try to approach just for the floor to collapse and to fall down a hole... picking themselves back up they make their way across a floor of spikes avoiding a few falling ones too, Ghost continues upwards.

Breaking through a small barrier Ghost sees that they have made it to the other side of the hole they fell down and approaches the tablet, the now familiar glow of soul spreading across the surface, it reads:

"Higher beings, these words are for you and you alone.  
Beyond this point you enter the land of King and Creator.  
Step across this threshold and obey our laws."

"Bear witness to the last and only civilisation, the eternal Kingdom.  
Hallownest"

The eternal Kingdom? Hallownest? These words seemed familiar to Ghost but they did not know why.. What _did_ intrigue Ghost was the first line, it repeated from the last tablet "Higher beings, these words are for you and you alone." was Ghost a higher being? Was that why they could read the tablets? They did not know.. they thought about this as they break down the large door and walks through.

Seeing a small village ahead they leap down into Hallownest, not knowing how much this kingdom would change their life...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was super fun to write and I super hope you enjoyed it.  
> (i know its a bit dull rn but it'll get better when Ghost finds other people ;-;)


	2. Dirtmouth

Ghost landed next to a pile of rubble, for once not landing on their mask after their fall. Excitedly jumping towards the village, Ghost stops, looking up at a lamp post seeing more of the small glowy bugs in the lights and surrounding them. They see a bug out of the corner of their eye, almost taking out their nail before noticing that the bug is just standing there calmly looking over at them. The bug seems friendly enough, if a little tired, so they walk over to them looking up.

"Ho there, traveller. I'm afraid there's only me left to offer welcome. Our town's fallen quiet you see." The bug says, Ghost thinks to respond before remembering how very mute they are so just nods vigorously in response. The other bug seemingly talking more to themself than to Ghost continues "The other residents, they've all disappeared. Headed down that well, one by one, into the caverns below.." he said this with a slight sadness in his tone. "Used to be a great kingdom beneath our town. It's long fell to ruin, yet it still draws folks into its depths. Wealth, glory, enlightenment, that darkness seems to promise all things. I'm sure you too seek your dreams down there." Dreams? Ghost had never thought of their dreams. Many bugs they'd seen talked of searching to achieve their dreams, but Ghost had never thought of such things for themself..."Well watch out. It's a sickly air that fills the place. Creatures turn mad and travellers are robbed of their memories. Perhaps dreams aren't such great things after all..."

The bug went quiet for a moment before looking like he'd snapped out of a trance "Oh right! Pardon me, I am ElderBug. You are.. a quiet one aren't you?" Ghost nods very excitedly at this, hoping that this 'ElderBug' would figure out their muteness. "Well feel free to sit down, that bench may be iron, but I assure you it's quite comfortable. There's no better place to collect your thoughts before heading below." He said gesturing to the rather beautiful bench next to him "I enjoy the company even if you aren't one for conversation." he stated with a happy look in his eyes.

Ghost happily took this offer, he couldn't quite remember what happened before he woke up in those ruins but it must of been tiring. They took a moment to look at the shiny rocks they found earlier before taking their nail off of their back and cleaning it best they could with a bit of cloth which had fallen off their cloak long long ago. Ghost ran the cloth through all the little cracks and scratches, digging out all the dirt and bits of carcass and shell that got stuck there.

Slowly, after maybe half an hour or so, Ghost picked themselves up off of the bench nodded to ElderBug and went to investigate the well that he was talking about earlier. They always felt somewhat bad for no being able to say goodbye any better but this time they promised themselves that they'd come back even if just to rest on the nice bench again.

On the short walk to the well Ghost passed three buildings, one of which had a sign on the door that said:

"For all your mapping supplies, we will be opening soon. -Iselda & Cornifer"

Good this gave a proper reason to come back to this small town, rather than just to sooth a silly guilt of not saying goodbye properly. They where now close enough to see the well, it was more a hole than a well, with a fancy arch with lanterns to light the drop into what the old bug said was the actual kingdom. On the other side of the well, opposite to the town, was a graveyard with large open iron gates as an entrance.

Ghost decides they can look there later, right now they want to see what down the well. They jump down and enter the kingdom...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!!  
> I've really enjoyed writing this and I've made two chapters just today.  
> Hopefully I'll get another one up for tomorrow!!


	3. The Black Egg Temple

Ghost landed at the bottom of the well, looking at a sign they landed next to. This was not useful as seemingly none of the signs pointed in a direction that made any sense, apart from one labeled Black Egg Temple. This sign pointed straight to the corridore on the right, Ghost continues down this path but instantly becomes distracted by a small fluffy looking bug crawling round and round on one of the platforms. Ghost tries to pet this bug but it bites them, causing ghost to fall off of the small platform.

They lands on the ground just bellow, still irritated at the bug, slashing upwards at the small bug they kill it and use the small amount of soul gained to heal the bite on their lower arm. They go to jump back up to the platform but groan comes out from the corner behind them. Quickly Ghost turns expecting something to fight just to see a.. pillbug? Just staring at the wall.

I mean it looked like a pillbug but something about it just seemed.. off. This did not make any sense. The feeling Ghost had was the feeling they got around creatures that very much wanted Ghost dead. This was a pillbug, a usually harmless creature, only even slightly dangerous if armed with a nail but this bug had no nail. Yet the feeling was still there.

Then it turned around. Its eyes were glazed over, tinted orange, and its mouth lag agape and unmoving. Small groans came from the creature as it stared at Ghost before suddenly charging at them, its mouthparts chatering. Ghost in defence quickly ended the bug, hitting it multiple times with their nail, and picked up the many shiny rocks it had been holding. 

Jumping back up and over the few platforms they ran through the tall arch at the end of the corridor and into the next room. This room was very large and had a large structure resembling the corpse of a gigantic bug (assumably the black egg temple) in the center. It had large windows and engraved above the door where three masks, all with varying amounts of eye holes. Entering the building Ghost saw a large black egg, obviously where the name came from, part of the egg was broken revealing a large door again engraved with the three masks.

What was much more important to Ghost was the tall pillbug standing on a slightly raised part of the floor. He had a mask tied to the top of his head with the same appearance as one of the engravings. A very sharp nail held at his waist. He was seemingly looking up at the egg-like structure questingly. This was a stupid and potentially dangerous move on Ghosts part but they approached the bug courshiusly.

Luckily the bug turned around seemingly very excitedly. The bug turned to Ghost "Hello there! How delightful to meet another traveller on these forgotten roads." He said a smile on his face, "You're a short one, but you've a strong look about you. I'm Quirrel! I have something of an obsession with uncharted places." Ghost though he was really nice. 

"This ancient kingdom holds many fascinating mysteries, and one of the most intriguing of them is standing right before us." Quirrel continued looking back to the egg "A great stone egg, lying in the corpse of an ancient kingdom. And this egg... Is it warm? It certainly gives off a unique air. Can it be opened? There are strange marks all over it..." he move a hand to his face now rambling slightly "I do so love a mystery...And who knows what other marvels lie even deeper below us..."

Quirrel snapped out of his rambling turning back to Ghost "For long I've felt drawn here. So many tales full of wonders and horrors. No longer could I resist. I just had to see it for myself" this made Ghost remember ElderBugs words on dreams. Was Quirrel looking to fulfil his dreams too? "And what a time I chose to arrive! This dead world has sprung to life. The creatures are riled up and the earth rumbles. The air is thick. I wonder what could have brought it all about?"

Ghost thought about this, this world had sprung to life? Like the mad bug that tried to kill them? They looked back up to Quirrel, the tall bug seemed to take this as a gesture to keep talking "To persevere in this ruin, that old nail alone just won't be enough. Though that's no problem! One only has to look around. Plenty have come before us and most have met their grisly end, many more equipped that you and I. I'm sure they wouldn't mind were a fellow explorer to relieve them of their tools. It's a kindness really. The dead shouldn't be burdened with such things." Ghost didn't really care about the implications of his words, they liked the nail they had even if it was a bit shattered. 

Maybe one day they could fix the nail they had? That would be nice...

Quirrel quickly changed the topic, seeing that the little knight had spaced out staring into the middle distance. "Did you pass that little town above? A gloomy little place. And such mastery hidden right beneath! I suppose that's why they've all headed down here. Who could resist such possibilities?"

"Truly a marvel..." Quirrel muttered to himself. This seemed a better time than any to leave this conversation Ghost thought, nodding to Quirrel who nodded back as they ran to the door to see what things they could in the rest of hallownest...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! I super hope you enjoyed this! I think it's a bit longer than the other two chapters!  
> I you can't tell most of the things character like Quirrel say are direct quotes from the game, this wont be forever. as the story diverts from the cannon this'll get a lot more interesting!!  
> This was super fun to write and criticism is always appreciated!!!


End file.
